39 Year Study Finds Snow Cover Decrease

In a new paper, published in Nature, researchers from the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and the Environment and Climate Change Canada, working as part of European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Climate Change Initiative, have reliably estimated the amount of annual snow mass and changes in snow cover in the northern hemisphere between 1980 and 2018. Warming […]

Les Arcs Studies Solar Power Potential of All Lifts

Les Arcs installed sixty solar panels on the Aiguille Rouge cable car and Varet last season and the French resort is currently studying the photovoltaic potential of each and every lift, a resort spokesperson said. Photovoltaic panels have also been integrated into the roof of the Bourg Saint Maurice aqua-leisure complex in the valley. They […]

2019 Europe’s Warmest Year Yet

New data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Service reported 2019 was the warmest on record in Europe, although for the world as a whole it has previously been reported that 2019 was the second warmest. Many places across the continent saw temperature peaks that were 3-4C warmer than normal with the number of ‘sunshine hours’ […]

Scottish Ski Centre Switches to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil Fuel

After successful initial trials, Cairngorm Mountain ski area above Aviemore, which is currently still open for snowsports, has begun using hydrotreated vegetable oil across their mountain operations to help reduce our emissions by up to 90%. The oil is being used to power the centre’s fleet of snow clearing machines, its snow making fan guns, […]

Big Sky Buys Green Power For All of its Ski Lifts

Big Sky Resort in Montana has announced that they are now buying ‘Renewable Energy Credits’ equivalent to the annual electrical consumption of their 38 lifts. That means that an equivalent amount of green energy is produced to the power needed to run the lifts. “Lifts are obviously essential to our business – and they are […]

WWF Seek Global Support to Persuade UNESCO to add ‘Seasons’ to the World Heritage list

The Norwegian branch of the World Wildlife Fund, WWF, working with clothing company Bergans, have launched an initiative to ‘Save the Seasons’ in a bid to have them added, and thus preserved, as part of UNESCO’s World Heritage list. Pyramids, temples, Stonehenge, reefs and… seasons? Everything previously included on UNESCO’s World Heritage list is either […]

World’s Longest Ski Run is Skiable in Full Less Often as Climate Change Bites

What’s generally regarded as the world’s longest lift-accessed ski run, the famous Vallée Blanche above Chamonix, looks set to lose its status, for a large part of the winter at least, as climate change melts away the Mer de Glace glacier beneath it. The occasionally 20km long run, with a potential vertical descent of around […]

30 Year, 100m Swiss Franc Plan to Save a Swiss Glacier

A Swiss glaciologist, Felix Keller, has an ambitious plan to save the Morteratsch Glacier, the third largest and by volume the most massive glacier in the Eastern Alps, from melting away. Keller is concerned that rapid glacier melt caused by climate change will mean that the gradual melt water relied upon by Switzerland for water […]

Ischgl Declared ‘Climate Neutral’

The Austrian Tirol ski resort of Ischgl has been declared climate-neutral by the German company ClimatePartner, which is described as, “the leading solution provider for climate protection measures.” Ischgl’s lift operators, Silvrettaseilbahn AG, have both worked to reduce their company’s CO2 emissions and offset the remaining CO2 through ClimatePartner, with the company then declaring Ischgl, […]

Ski Holiday Company Focuses on Reducing Environmental Impact

The travel company which runs tour operators Erna Low and Nuco have stepped up their efforts in the fight to stop the climate emergency. They are both taking steps to cut their own CO2 emissions and minimise waste and offering guidance to skiers and boarders heading to the slopes with them this winter on how […]